Hunger – A Preventable Tragedy

Garbage, Beijing (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Do you know what happens to that perfectly good double cheeseburger that you ordered with no pickles when you return it to the fast food restaurant because they put pickles on it?  Well, if they don’t break the rules and just toss it back under the heat lamp for the next customer, they toss it.

Perfectly good food, tons of it, gets tossed in the garbage every single night all around the world.  Why?  Because our laws are set up that way.

If a restaurant makes too much food (and they do every single day) the law says that for them to get a better tax break on the ‘loss’, they must throw it in the trash.  If they donate it to the needy – the poor, the homeless – they don’t get a break on their taxes due to Uncle Sam (or if they do, it’s not comparative to the ‘loss’ tax break).  In addition, they put LOCKS on their garbage containers, to intentionally prevent the hungry that are willing to sacrifice their dignity and dig through garbage for food from reaching it.  In fact, should someone decide to breach these holy bastions of garbage to relieve the ache in their bellies, they can be arrested for stealing!